Anonymous
01/13/2025 13:43
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry to ask this question, but I don't see it being answered anywhere. Does anyone have a sense of how many people who were near the onset of the Palisades fire were not able to get out? I have a FB acquaintance who lived about a mile from Skull Rock, and they have not posting anything.
The best option at this point is to look at news articles about the death toll. Often, it will take some weeks to figure out exactly who passed away. Some names are already available, though, but often in these situations, people are scattered and it's not known yet if they are just missing or didn't make it out.
The official death toll is 24, and about the same number are officially unaccounted for. Gov Newsom says he expects the numbers to increase significantly.
Things are moving fast on the ground there. I heard from a friend Thursday night that she and her family were safe and generally not impacted, but by Friday her father had to evacuate. With another red flag warning today, I expect things will spread further.
This is truly the nightmare scenario when it comes to wildfires that cross into populated areas. It is infuriating that so much of the conversation is politicized right now. The incoming President is less focused on the well-being of Americans who are grieving and scared than on scoring political points. I remember the summer of 2020, when fires were raging but it seemed like the national news barely mentioned it...instead focusing on the campaign. It felt like Californians were barely American. Now I wish we could go back to the time when no one cared as opposed to this.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 13:14
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry to ask this question, but I don't see it being answered anywhere. Does anyone have a sense of how many people who were near the onset of the Palisades fire were not able to get out? I have a FB acquaintance who lived about a mile from Skull Rock, and they have not posting anything.
The best option at this point is to look at news articles about the death toll. Often, it will take some weeks to figure out exactly who passed away. Some names are already available, though, but often in these situations, people are scattered and it's not known yet if they are just missing or didn't make it out.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 13:14
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry to ask this question, but I don't see it being answered anywhere. Does anyone have a sense of how many people who were near the onset of the Palisades fire were not able to get out? I have a FB acquaintance who lived about a mile from Skull Rock, and they have not posting anything.
Two hikers who were on the trail were able to escape. There is a good chance that your friend got out. People are in shock so you may not see posts until they can process what happened.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 13:00
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
I'm sorry to ask this question, but I don't see it being answered anywhere. Does anyone have a sense of how many people who were near the onset of the Palisades fire were not able to get out? I have a FB acquaintance who lived about a mile from Skull Rock, and they have not posting anything.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:50
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Person from Malibu here. Some of the tips for evacuating here are just laughable? Packing boxes of Christmas ornaments? Really?
In bad wildfires, you want to be out as soon as possible after the evacuation call. It's not just traffic you are worried about in this situation-- You do not want to get stuck when the fire reaches the road or get trapped when visibility becomes so poor from smoke you can't drive safely, or when the high winds knock trees into the road. Look at the people trying to flee the Camp Fire who were killed in Paradise, CA. This is particularly critical in these fire zones because many neighborhoods that are in the hills of CA are one-way-in/one-way-out due to the geography so waiting too long can result in being trapped.
If you have time to do one thing, shut off the gas to your house before you flee. This could prevent some damage to your home by reducing the risk of an explosion, or from a gas line that continues to burn. You should also shut off electricity, but a lot of times the electricity is already turned off due to high winds.
I thought that was so ridiculous too (person from Ventura who didn't have much time to evacuate before Thomas fire came over the hill into our neighborhood within minutes). Along with - call friend with a trailer. How f'd up is that as people are frantically trying to evacuate an area, your friend is going to be driving into the neighborhood with a big *ss trailer. We were too busy running around at midnight banging on neighbors doors to make sure everyone was awake so they could evacuate.
How many times do I have to explain this? After our first evacuation with no plans and in total panic I reorganized and rearranged some things in my home. I am not telling people to pack whatever their precious items are during evacuation. I have a prioritized list of pre packed items and depending on time we could walk out with nothing, our 2 minute box, or some additional things. I don’t call my friend with a trailer. I explained that too. I have prepacked a FEW Christmas ornaments. I have prepacked a few pieces of family china and crystal that are 200 years old. I have a way to quickly pack clothes, studies.[b] The whole plan exists to remove having to think and make decisions so you can get out quickly, hopefully with some of your family’s things, before the order, and the only thing you have to think about is the fire or other disaster that’s causing you to evacuate. I also posted about coordinating and planning with neighbors.
I have and am supporting my friends who lost literally everything and the level of trauma is extremely high. For the kids it’s almost unbearable.
I’ve basically reached the conclusion that it is impossible to have constructive conversations on DCUM because inevitably people start attacking you after failing to actually read the post and just make crap up.[/b]
NP and I am sorry people are being so rude to you, especially since you have experienced an evacuation (and more than once if I remember correctly from you original post). Someone asked you what you've done to plan ahead, and you shared. You did not present it as a directive to others and clearly stated what you packed was important to you - others may choose something else or approach the whole situation differently. You also made it clear you have things set based on the amount of time you have to evacuate. I thought it was helpful and an interesting perspective. I have not experienced an evacuation and appreciated your post.
Evacuated 3x 😬
Thanks to you and other PPs. I don’t know why the rudeness is getting to me so much!
I was also one who had said that I’m thankful to you for the very detailed post! Totally understood what you meant about the few pieces of Christmas ornaments, China etc. it’s what is sentimental and valuable to *you*, and made me think about what we would have a hard time recovering from, if anything (since I’m very practical minded), if it was lost… and you put it so well actually! I’ve evacuated before, but not from fire. It’s more terrifying. The trauma can be significant, even if we are all resilient enough to manage losing “just stuff” - of course it’s not the same as losing lives and pets - everyone understands that… but why not think ahead and be smart about it, if you can. For some, we may strictly think practical about what will we truly and immediately need, and what needs to be digitalized and everything else can be replaced if needs be… or we will cope with what cannot be replaced. All these posts have been insightful and valuable to me.
I’m sorry you had to go through this 3x already!
My SIL lives up between Sacramento and Tahoe in fire country. There have been several times when everyone has been watching the fire lines ready to evacuate if it starts moving in their direction. She’s in a populated area so there is good communication. In this situation , then yes if you’re prepared you can fill up a van, trailer, SUV and get out to stay with friends. My other relatives in Bonny Doon area of Santa Cruz mountains had minutes when they saw the flames to grab their pets, jump in the car and pray the one road out wasn’t engulfed or blocked. DH was at Berkeley during the Oakland fires living off campus. He said it was terrifying because back then you couldn’t get up to date information on which way the fire was moving.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:43
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CA will go RED going forward. It's just time and necessary. Either that, or just let it go...
F that. The response to a natural disaster isn't a political disaster.
Republicans want to burn it all down. They aren't the solution to anything.
Ahhh the irony of your post...
The reference to burning was intentional. Republicans are the last people to help stop things from burning.
Republicans aren't running Los Angeles or California.
I was responding to the post at the top about CA going red. Republicans aren't the solution.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:37
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CA will go RED going forward. It's just time and necessary. Either that, or just let it go...
F that. The response to a natural disaster isn't a political disaster.
Republicans want to burn it all down. They aren't the solution to anything.
Ahhh the irony of your post...
The reference to burning was intentional. Republicans are the last people to help stop things from burning.
Republicans aren't running Los Angeles or California.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:37
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:So much about these LA fires yet not much was in the news at all for the NC hurricane victims who are still without houses....
I don’t know if you’re upset about news coverage or relief assistance or both, but I’ll address the news coverage:
I don’t live near NC or CA, but was inundated with NC news right after it happened and my Instagram feed had tons of stories about it. The disaster in NC was also much more widely dispersed and affected areas differently. It’s hard to compare to LA where thousands of homes and entire neighborhoods were basically leveled. LA is also a much larger city and media market and it is a disaster that isn’t yet over. The acute phase of the hurricane didn’t last for a week or more like these fires. I think that if the peak of the storm went on for 7 days and if the area hit was more urban, you would see the same coverage.
+1
The news coverage of both disasters has been about the same in the DC area. There are more social media posts about it because there are millions more people affected by the fires - it's an huge metro area - and they all have phones.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:30
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:So much about these LA fires yet not much was in the news at all for the NC hurricane victims who are still without houses....
I don’t know if you’re upset about news coverage or relief assistance or both, but I’ll address the news coverage:
I don’t live near NC or CA, but was inundated with NC news right after it happened and my Instagram feed had tons of stories about it. The disaster in NC was also much more widely dispersed and affected areas differently. It’s hard to compare to LA where thousands of homes and entire neighborhoods were basically leveled. LA is also a much larger city and media market and it is a disaster that isn’t yet over. The acute phase of the hurricane didn’t last for a week or more like these fires. I think that if the peak of the storm went on for 7 days and if the area hit was more urban, you would see the same coverage.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:28
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CA will go RED going forward. It's just time and necessary. Either that, or just let it go...
Californian here. I’ve thought that for awhile (there is a lot of frustration with Democrats here), but the deep anger here at the Republicans who are attacking people who have lost their homes may have interrupted that process. There is a lot of media coverage of those folks and people here are furious, especially because no California politicians tried to target the victims of hurricanes in a similar way.
What people are doing this though? I've only seen a couple examples.
There has been a few links posted in this thread. And it may only be a few Republicans attacking the victims of the fires but links about what they are saying and doing are flying around here, even from people who don’t like Democrats. The behavior is so extreme and cruel that it’s getting a lot of airplay.
There are also rumors claiming that red state folks were cheering for the fires during moments of silence at football games. Californians may be a lot of things, but there are no stories of them cheering for hurricanes during moments of silence for hurricane victims. I’m not even sure that it’s true that red state football fans were cheering during moments of silence but I’ve now seen the claim made a couple of places so the rumors are flying.
Prior to this, I thought that California would go red, because people are so deeply frustrated with the progressive left, but the anger at Republicans who are victim-blaming (while not victim-blaming hurricane victims) is palpable and I am not so sure now.
I just really resent this type of talk as I am in a red state and don't know a single person feeling remotely happy about fires. I am in a couple very large facebook groups for weather/hurricane info, and people feel absolutely terrible and have compassion and want to help. There is a lot of incentive to polarize and divide rather than look at all the people supporting others.
I know, and I don’t think the people cheering at games during moments of silence (if they even exist, it is a rumor) are representative at all. The Republicans targeting victims are unfortunately proven (see news links) but maybe the Republicans are exercising some party discipline because they seem to be quieter now. Idk what will happen politically but Republican politicians victim-blaming people who just lost their houses was so awful that it had an immediate viral impact here.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:25
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
So much about these LA fires yet not much was in the news at all for the NC hurricane victims who are still without houses....
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:19
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Person from Malibu here. Some of the tips for evacuating here are just laughable? Packing boxes of Christmas ornaments? Really?
In bad wildfires, you want to be out as soon as possible after the evacuation call. It's not just traffic you are worried about in this situation-- You do not want to get stuck when the fire reaches the road or get trapped when visibility becomes so poor from smoke you can't drive safely, or when the high winds knock trees into the road. Look at the people trying to flee the Camp Fire who were killed in Paradise, CA. This is particularly critical in these fire zones because many neighborhoods that are in the hills of CA are one-way-in/one-way-out due to the geography so waiting too long can result in being trapped.
If you have time to do one thing, shut off the gas to your house before you flee. This could prevent some damage to your home by reducing the risk of an explosion, or from a gas line that continues to burn. You should also shut off electricity, but a lot of times the electricity is already turned off due to high winds.
I thought that was so ridiculous too (person from Ventura who didn't have much time to evacuate before Thomas fire came over the hill into our neighborhood within minutes). Along with - call friend with a trailer. How f'd up is that as people are frantically trying to evacuate an area, your friend is going to be driving into the neighborhood with a big *ss trailer. We were too busy running around at midnight banging on neighbors doors to make sure everyone was awake so they could evacuate.
How many times do I have to explain this? After our first evacuation with no plans and in total panic I reorganized and rearranged some things in my home. I am not telling people to pack whatever their precious items are during evacuation. I have a prioritized list of pre packed items and depending on time we could walk out with nothing, our 2 minute box, or some additional things. I don’t call my friend with a trailer. I explained that too. I have prepacked a FEW Christmas ornaments. I have prepacked a few pieces of family china and crystal that are 200 years old. I have a way to quickly pack clothes, studies.[b] The whole plan exists to remove having to think and make decisions so you can get out quickly, hopefully with some of your family’s things, before the order, and the only thing you have to think about is the fire or other disaster that’s causing you to evacuate. I also posted about coordinating and planning with neighbors.
I have and am supporting my friends who lost literally everything and the level of trauma is extremely high. For the kids it’s almost unbearable.
I’ve basically reached the conclusion that it is impossible to have constructive conversations on DCUM because inevitably people start attacking you after failing to actually read the post and just make crap up.[/b]
NP and I am sorry people are being so rude to you, especially since you have experienced an evacuation (and more than once if I remember correctly from you original post). Someone asked you what you've done to plan ahead, and you shared. You did not present it as a directive to others and clearly stated what you packed was important to you - others may choose something else or approach the whole situation differently. You also made it clear you have things set based on the amount of time you have to evacuate. I thought it was helpful and an interesting perspective. I have not experienced an evacuation and appreciated your post.
Evacuated 3x 😬
Thanks to you and other PPs. I don’t know why the rudeness is getting to me so much!
I was also one who had said that I’m thankful to you for the very detailed post! Totally understood what you meant about the few pieces of Christmas ornaments, China etc. it’s what is sentimental and valuable to *you*, and made me think about what we would have a hard time recovering from, if anything (since I’m very practical minded), if it was lost… and you put it so well actually! I’ve evacuated before, but not from fire. It’s more terrifying. The trauma can be significant, even if we are all resilient enough to manage losing “just stuff” - of course it’s not the same as losing lives and pets - everyone understands that… but why not think ahead and be smart about it, if you can. For some, we may strictly think practical about what will we truly and immediately need, and what needs to be digitalized and everything else can be replaced if needs be… or we will cope with what cannot be replaced. All these posts have been insightful and valuable to me.
I’m sorry you had to go through this 3x already!
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:18
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CA will go RED going forward. It's just time and necessary. Either that, or just let it go...
F that. The response to a natural disaster isn't a political disaster.
Republicans want to burn it all down. They aren't the solution to anything.
Ahhh the irony of your post...
The reference to burning was intentional. Republicans are the last people to help stop things from burning.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:16
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you’re talking about presidential politics, CA will absolutely not go red. If you’re talking about the governorship, it will only go red if someone like Rick Caruso runs. He is well respected and moderate. In terms of our Legislature it is solid solid Blue.
This fire changes very little because most of the political noise is from outside the state.
We have devastating fires all the time in California. Almost every year! And we’re still a blue state. Because we believe in climate change, gun control, assistance for the poor, separation of church & state, and the women’s right to choose. We also believe in competence of Government, and we do not believe that is a characteristic of the current Republican Party.
I dunno...he has been pushing misinformation on FoxNews...
He speaks the truth. It's hard to hear, I know.
Misinformation is not the truth. Republicans tend to struggle with their relationship with the truth.
Anonymous
01/13/2025 12:16
Subject: Palisades Fire - Los Angeles
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:CA will go RED going forward. It's just time and necessary. Either that, or just let it go...
F that. The response to a natural disaster isn't a political disaster.
Republicans want to burn it all down. They aren't the solution to anything.
Ahhh the irony of your post...